Northeastern Voice

University Police earn accreditation

From left, Northeastern police Capt. Al Sweeney, Director Joseph Griffin, Staff Sgt. Ralph Avery and Associate Director Jim Ferrier, with the NUPD accreditation certificate. / JIM CHIAVELLI

The Northeastern University Police Department has been accredited by the Massachusetts Police Accreditation Commission for delivering an exemplary level of police service in the university community.

Under the leadership of Chief D. Joseph Griffin, Northeastern’s is the 26th police agency in Massachusetts to earn accreditation, and only the third college or university police department to receive this honor.

As part of the rigorous and thorough peer-review carried out by a team of commission-appointed assessors in late 2007, NUPD met close to 340 standards related to all aspects of law enforcement, including training, management, operation and technical support activities.

The accreditation requirements include written policy directives for most policies and procedures (also reflected by the staff manual), as well as close observation standards carried out by the accreditation team to verify that the written directives are fully understood and practiced by the staff.

The self-assessment and the preparation for the on-site review were led by Staff Sgt. Ralph Avery. Avery was appointed accreditation manager by Griffin and was assisted by Associate Director James Ferrier throughout the process.

“This honor is an indication of the department’s high level of professionalism,” said Avery. “The accreditation underscores our interest and willingness to grow by having others scrutinize and evaluate our performance in order to become one of the best departments in the state of Massachusetts.”

The Massachusetts Police Accreditation Commission offers two levels or recognition for police agencies, certification and accreditation. While not a prerequisite to accreditation, many agencies choose to pursue certification first by demonstrating compliance with approximately half of the 340 standards required by accreditation. Northeastern did so, and was initially awarded certification in 2003. 

Currently there are 16 certified agencies in addition to the 26 accredited departments, and nearly 100 additional agencies are in the self-assessment phase pursuing certification or accreditation. Accreditation is awarded for three years.